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German South West Africa (1983: Doomsday)
The Republic of German Southwest Africa is nation in the former South African mandate of Southwest Africa. After Doomsday, German South West Africa takes its namesake from many of the small German communities that banded together in order to survive following the economic collapse of Africa, its history as once belonging to Germany, as well as the small, but noticeable amount of refugees from both East and West Germany and other places in Europe. History Pre-Doomsday Initial European contact with the areas which would become German South-West Africa came from traders and sailors, starting in January 1486 when German sailors landed in what would become Namibia. However, for several centuries, European settlement in the area would remain small and temporary. Many German missionaries began founding churches throughout what would become Namibia. These German missionaries had a significant impact initially on culture and dress, and then later on politics. During the same time that the German missionaries were active, merchants and farmers were establishing outposts. On 16 November 1882 a merchant from Germany requested protection for a station that he planned to build in South-West Africa, from Otto von Bismarck. Once this was granted, his employee Heinrich Vogelsang purchased land from a native chief and established a city at what is now known as Lüderitz. In 1884, he placed the area under the protection of Imperial Germany to deter British encroachment. The German flag was finally raised in South West Africa on 7 August 1884. In April 1885, the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft für Südwest-Afrika (German Colonial Society for Southwest Africa) was founded with the support of German bankers , industrialists, and politicians. Through 1893 and 1894, the first local uprising occurred from the native Hereros. Remote farms were attacked, and approximately 150 German settlers were killed. After a series of wars, the Herero were drawn into the arid desert, where many died of thirst. What few managed to escape into the British colonies were the lucky ones, as the remaining Herero population was to be exterminated by the Germans. After the official end of the conflict, the remaining natives, when finally released from detention, were subject to a policy of dispossession, deportation, forced labor, and racial segregation and discrimination in a system that in many ways anticipated apartheid and even perhaps foreshadowed the industrial-scale killing in Nazi Germany. German South-West Africa was the only German colony where Germans settled in large numbers. German settlers were drawn to the colony by economic possibilities in diamond and copper mining, and especially farming. At its peak, the colony had 200,000 inhabitants. Doomsday On Doomsday, both mainland Germany and Southwest Africa would suffer heavy economic damage. West Germany and East Germany would be two of the heaviest-hit nations in Europe, since both were members of NATO and the Warsaw Pact respectively. However, Southwest Africa would be given the luxury of being spared of the physical effects of Doomsday, opposed to the mainland German countries. Of the small German population of Southwest Africa many of the 22,000 Germans would band together survive in the chaotic, war-filled lands of Africa. Around 4,000 of these Germans founded a small fishing and agricultural community on the abandoned resort town of Langstand. The mostly German population would initially thrive, attracting even more refugees from surrounding areas, including several Afrikaners. However, multiple attacks from local warlords demanding food during the winter months caused many to die by the hands of starvation. In March of 1983, the city was eventually discovered by a group of soldiers South African National Defense force. After describing to them the civil war that was beginning to plague much of South Africa, the contingent of 80 soldiers was absorbed as a local militia into Langstand who did not dare to return into the heartland of South Africa. This would not only help the city-state, but defend them from local warlords as well. Post-Doomsday In March of 1985, contact was made with the city of Walvis Bay. While the community at Langstand was surprised to find out that other organized settlements existed in the area, they also learned that civil war had almost completely destroyed the South African government. In order to cope better with the surrounding environment of African warlords or refugees coming from the war torn cities, the two city states formed the Republik Deutsch-Südwestafrika, or the German Southwest Africa on February 4th, 1986 after a constitutional convention in Walvis Bay. With a German-Afrikan population of 18,000, and a non-German population of 35,000, German Southwest Africa was the largest German settlement in Africa, as well as one of the most stable in all of South Africa. As the young nation initially thrived, it soon began to attract a large amount of refugees from all over South Africa, mainly from Cape Town, where warlords and gangs had fought off the remaining South African military. With the government not knowing how to handle so many these mainly African refugees, the apartheid was abolished to allow the African population into the existing workforce. In 1989, a scouting party discovered the German town of Swamkoput. Civil War After the civil war in South Africa had essentially died down, the young nation was soon discovered by the remnants of SWAPO, the organization which formerly wanted a free South-West Africa. However, with the young republic occupying Walvis Bay, SWAPO demanded control over the city. After German South West Africa rejected handing over control, war broke out. By the end of 1990, SWAPO officially controlled all of the territories of German South West Africa. For three years, the area was occupied by SWAPO, until unrest began to grow amongst the non-African population, who were beginning to become victims of the "reverse-apartheid". With riots occurring nearly every day over better treatment for the German and English populations, the South-West African government opened fire on a crowd of protesters in the capital of Walvis Bay. These attacks sparked a revolution amongst much of the local populations. While war occurred throughout 1993, the losses were almost always on the German and English South African population. The GSWA's first success was in the winter of '94,when the guerrilla forces managed to secure Langstrand which would serve as the provisional capital for the remainder of the war. Multiple attacks through Southwest Africa eventually led to the near-complete destruction of Walvis Bay, as well as many other minor villages, many of which were completely destroyed. By 1995, with over 8,000 people dead, and more than 20,000 displaced throughout South-West Africa, the two factions eventually signed a peace treaty, known as the "Pueldo-Himmler Treaty", over the partition of South-West Africa. The German South-West Africans would once again receive the Erongo region, while the remainder of the land would go to the remnants of SWAPO. The next several years would be horrific for both sides, as the thousands of homeless citizens, many of whom were starving, would be forced to rebuild from the ground up. However, the citizens would find it easier to farm the land with an increase in rainfall - helping them to meet their needs to feed themselves. Expansion While the land under the nations' control was relatively stable, which was at the time only Windhoek, Langstand, and the ruins of Jervis Bay, it did not allow for much deep economic activity to occur. Calls for the entire Erongo region to be annexed were shouted down, as much of the lands allowed to be ceded by the SWAPO government were undesirable. Instead, the nation expanded throughout the coastal region of Erongo and into parts of Kunene, which was to be known as the Peuldo-Himmler Line, after the treaty which defined the nations borders. While most of the land defined in the treaty was never incorporated, the development of the mining industry skyrocketed. Eventually, plans for the provisional capital to be moved from Swakopmunt to the remnants of Walvis Bay were passed. The city of Walvis Bay was rebuilt as the city of Neu Berlin in late 1996, although the name Neu Berlin is only used amongst Germans and loyal Africans, and it is still officially Walvis Bay in English. Expeditions of Mainland Germany Some years after Doomsday, many of the local German population began to wonder what had happened to both Germanies after the nuclear war that had quite possibly obliterated them both. In 2000 permission was given for 4 vessels, 3 of whom were supplied by New Britain for a fee of 3,000,000 Deutschmarks each (equivalent to 50,000 ANZ Dollars) to scout the remnants of Germany for any surviving settlements. While the initial fact-finding mission had failed, a second voyage in 2003 was far more successful. The Republic of North Germany was found in the regions of Schleswig-Holstein and East Frisia, as well as a previously undiscovered town of 3,000 people, all of which eventually emigrated to German Southwest Africa or North Germany. Furthermore, the trip to East Germany discovered the Kingdom of Prussia. In all, over 8,000 people successfully emigrated to German Southwest Africa in a year. Following the successful voyage, many more have been sent over the years, allowing for a steady stream of German immigrants who were hoping to get away from their radiated homeland and start a new life, to enter the country. Along with this, many of the native African populace from the regional areas began to immigrate to the country. This began creating a resource shortage, and it was ordered that the nation's territories be expanded to the south to make more "living space". Most of the expansion of the nation has taken towards the south, and closer to the other NUSA member nations. Growth and Trade Boom Since the establishment of the New Union of South Africa in 2004, German Southwest Africa has grown economically. Its natural resources has helped it to construct better infrastructure for its citizens, such as roads and new housing and the discovery of German survivor states has helped bolster morale and has also increased German immigration into the country. It is thought that in the past eight years (as of 2012), over a hundred thousand Germans arrived in the country to make a new life themselves. Most of them have arrived through the expeditions sent out to mainland Germany but a few stragglers have arrived as stoyaways. The increased immigration has enabled the country to expand southward and build more settlements in the south, with the largest settlements consisting of booming populations of well over ten thousand people. With the larger workforce, many old mines in various areas were once again restarted and began to produce desirable goods for other nations in the area as well as the European states GSWA has come into contact with. However, the nation realized that having to transact in different currencies only made trading slower and tougher for it and its trading partners. Therefore, when talks of a unified currency began in the New Union of South Africa, the GSWA completely backed the proposal. Finally, in 2012, a unified currency was agreed upon by the members of NUSA, to ease transactions in trading. This has been more beneficial to GWSA as it has enabled them to trade quicker and make more profits from the minerals and metals they manage to extract. Word of the growth of a "German" nation in Africa soon got wind in former Germany. Eventually, there were tens of thousands of migrants in former Germany hoping to move to be able to start a better life somewhere else. When this came to the attention of the GSWA authorities, they quickly organised the largest fleet they have ever made and set sail for former Germany. They were overwhelmed with the numbers looking to migrate and quickly decided that multiple trips were in order. The numbers of how many settlers were brought in range from every person.Some say it was around a hundred and fifty thousand while others say it was closer to three hundred thousand. Most agree on around two hundred, however. These trips helped bring in much needed numbers of settlers to the nation, which could finally look to expand fully toward other NUSA states. In late 2012, the nation began its largest expansion period til date. The main reasons for this were to protect its trade routes to other states in the area as well as to finally link up with other states comprising NUSA. This expansion continued into the summer of 2013 and more than a few dozen new settlements were thought to have sprung up in the new zones which have been taken control of. However, the second focus of the expansion was to get to the small numbers of rivers that were in land so that the people of GSWA could have a safer supply of water. This was mainly lead by farmers who were willing to set up farms in unchartered territory as long as they could claim the land they settled and live a better life. Economy The economy of German Southwest Africa is primarily controlled by fishing, mining, and the government sector. Tourism once again dominates the former resort town of Langstrand, being a popular vacation spot for many throughout Africa, even some people coming from North Germany. Subsistence agriculture is the primary source of income for the rural, inland areas, while the coastal cities remain dominated by industry and ship-making. To help support subsidence farmers, the nation has begun to give grants to farmers to help them farm their lands better and have also given them access to tools at cheap prices - while suggesting to many of them to move inland to farm near the rivers. This is helping to not only increase crop yields, but help the farmers live a better life in general. The illegal sale of diamonds, or the "Blood diamond" trade, exists as a major problem for German Africa. Other economic problems include lack of agricultural space, African refugees trying to find work, and the opium trade. However, the latter is the smallest and least dangerous of German Africa's problems. To provide for the refugees who are trying to find work, the government of GSWA have begun many infrstructural projects such as the construction of new housing and roads as well as the expansion of the docks at Neu Berlin to try to help encourage work culture and efficiency within the African refugee population. The nation also hopes to see a greater number of workers arrive within its boroders, which will help the nation create new settlements and allow it to expand its borders as well as help increase productivity within the mines and factories of the nation. Government While it is officially a federal republic, it bears more similarity to a federation of cities since the three cities that make up most of the population are basically governed at the local level. The small rural communities that exist in the outer lands are completely self-governing. The country has borrowed many laws from the former Federal Republic of Germany, also known as West Germany. The framework of the government also borrows from the German legislature, with the Head of State being the Chancellor, as well as the nation being divided into Federal States. International Relations German Southwest Africa is a member of the New Union of South Africa, an economic and geopolitical alliance throughout the former nation of South Africa, as well as its former mandate Southwest Africa. The country has, in recent years, increased its trading capacity and has seen large returns as a result, which it has focused on using it to expand the infrastructure and housing qualities within the nation. Since 2003 it has been in negotiations with regarding a possible union between the two countries. However, long distances between the two have prevented any union beyond the proposed confederation known as the . It is hoped that as travel times get shorter and better organisation begins to occur, that perhaps this could become formalised. It is also represented in the League of Nations under the . Demographics Although a German country, the majority of the nation's populace are native Africans. However, percentage of Germans in the population has risen since the immigration boom following the successful voyage to Germany. This does not change the fact that over half of the population is still African, however. Category:African countries (1983: Doomsday) Category:Namibia